Deputy commissioner Bill Daly says there has to be a new reason to meet. / Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday was radio day in the NHL labor dispute and has been the case throughout the lockout, both the league and players presented their positions.

But deputy commissioner Bill Daly probably had the answer that fans most wanted to hear.

At the end of an interview with Hockey Night in Canada radio, he was asked - and was told he could only answer yes or no - whether there will be a 2012-13 NHL season.

His one-word response: "Yes."

But there will be plenty to do before that's a reality, according to the tenor of the earlier part of his interview.

Games have already been canceled though Dec. 30, along with the Winter Classic and the All-Star weekend. Also, there are no talks planned and the sides are heading to court, with the NHL Players' Association seeking a membership vote authorizing the executive board to dissolve the union and the league filing a class-action lawsuit to have the lockout declared legal.

Said Daly: "I think we're going to have further cancellations this week."

Daly also discussed the New York talks earlier this month in which progress seemed to be made, only to have everything blow up on the third day. The league had offered the players $300 million in deferred payment to ease the blow of their share of revenue dropping from 57% to 50%, plus said it would keep the qualifications for arbitration and unrestricted free agency the same. But it had asked the union to accept three things: a 10-year collective bargaining agreement with an eight-year opt-out, a maximum contract length of five years (seven for re-signing your own free agent) with a 5% year-to-year variance on salaries, and no amnesty buyouts or caps on escrow. When the union countered with an eight-year CBA (six-year opt-out) and eight-year contract limit with a different variance formula, the league pulled its offer.

"The only reason we gave X, Y and Z was because we thought that we were getting A, B and C," Daly said. "When we didn't get A, B and C, then X, Y and Z aren't there anymore."

Daly said the union hasn't been willing to budge off its earlier position and placed the resumption of talks on the players' shoulders.

"We've done as much as we can do and if you have a different idea or a different trade on the issues we talked about two weeks ago, let's hear it," Daly said.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has said he wouldn't accept a season of fewer than 48 games. Considering that the lockout-shortened, 48-game 1994-95 season started on Jan. 20, that would seem to indicate a decision would have to be reached in the second week of January. Daly refused to elaborate on when a drop-dead date might be.

"If you do the math and do what a responsible compression might look like ... you know what the neighborhood is of when we need to be playing hockey in order to be playing hockey this (season)," he said. "I don't think setting an absolute date necessarily serves any purpose at this point."